An emerging report reaching Africa today has it that Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, in a statement on Thursday, officially declared a state of emergency on food security.
Tinubu also sanctioned the incorporation of issues pertaining to the availability and affordability of food and water, recognising their importance as necessities for livelihoods, within the mandate of the National Security Council.
Following consultations with key stakeholders in the agricultural sector, Dele Alake, the Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications, and Strategy, shared this information during a briefing with newsmen at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
According to him, the President has instructed the prompt distribution of fertilizers and grains to farmers and households as a measure to alleviate the impact of subsidy removal.
According to him, ‘We will immediately release fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to mitigate the effects of the subsidy removal.’
‘There will be an organic synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the use of water resources to ensure adequate irrigation of farmlands and to guarantee that food is available all years round.’
‘As a country, Mr. President has made it clear that we are no longer comfortable with seasonal farming. We can no longer afford to have farming downtime.’
Additionally, the Presidential spokesman stated that the Federal Government will seek collaboration with states that are prepared to make land available for the creation of ranches.
Furthermore, he highlighted that within the ranches, there will be dedicated sections specifically reserved for grazing purposes.
According to him, ‘We will establish ranches in collaboration with state government and the federal government will pay for the land.’
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Giving further details, Alake explained that the government at the national level plans to activate land banks throughout the country, consisting of 500,000 hectares that have been mapped, with the objective of expanding the pool of fertile land for agricultural activities, thereby resulting in an immediate positive impact on food output.
In anticipation of the government’s distribution of grains, the Central Bank has advised middlemen who are withholding supplies to release them, as this is expected to lead to a decline in prices.
Accompanying Alake to the press briefing were Zacch Adedeji, the Special to the President on Revenue, John Uwajimogu, the Special Adviser on Industry, Trade, and Investment, as well as Wale Adeniyi, the acting Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), along with other notable individuals.
As per his explanation, the purpose of the briefing was to offer the public insights into the immediate actions undertaken by President Bola Tinubu-led administration to counter the current food inflation situation in the country.
He words, ‘As a hands-on- leader who follows developments across the country everyday, Mr. President is not unmindful of the rising cost of food and how it affects the citizens. While availability is not a problem, affordability has been a major issue to many Nigerians in all parts of the country. This has led a significant drop in demand thereby undermining the viability of the entire agriculture and food value chain.’
‘Accordingly, in line with this administration’s position on ensuring that the most vulnerable are supported, Mr. President has declared, with immediate effect the following actions’
‘That a state of emergency on food security be announced immediately, and that all matters pertaining to food & water availability and affordability, as essential livelihood items, be included within the purview of the National Security Council.’
‘As a direct and immediate response to this crisis, a number of initiatives will be deployed in the coming weeks to reverse this inflationary trend and guarantee future uninterrupted supplies of affordable foods to ordinary Nigerians.’
‘As with most emergencies, there are immediate, medium- and long-term interventions and solutions.’
‘In the immediate term, we intend to deploy some savings from the fuel subsidy removal into the Agricultural sector focusing on revamping the agricultural sector.’
‘In an earlier meeting with Agriculture Stakeholders (today), we drafted a memorandum of partnership between the government and the individual stakeholder representatives that encompasses the decisions taken and actions proposed from our engagements.’
‘The immediate intervention strategies are as follows: We will immediately release fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to mitigate the effects of the subsidy removal.’
‘There must be an urgent synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure adequate irrigation of farmlands and to guarantee that food is produced all-year round.’
‘We shall create and support a National Commodity Board that will review and continuously assess food prices as well as maintain a strategic food reserve that will be used as a price stabilisation mechanism for critical grains and other food items.’
‘Through this board, government will moderate spikes and dips in food prices. To achieve this, we have the following stakeholders on board to support the intervention effort of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’
‘The National Commodity Exchange (NCX), Seed Companies, National Seed Council and Research institutes, NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, Food Processing/ Agric Processing associations, private sector holders & Prime Anchors, small holder farmers, crop associations and Fertilizer producers, blenders and suppliers associations to mention a few.’
‘We will engage our security architecture to protect the farms and the farmers so that farmers can return to the farmlands without fear of attacks.’
The Central Bank will continue to play a major role in funding the agricultural value chain.
‘Activation of land banks. There is currently 500,000 hectares of already mapped land that will be used to increase availability of arable land for farming which will immediately impact food output.’
‘Mechanization and land clearing- The government will also collaborate with mechanization companies to clear more forests & make them available for farming.’
‘River basins- there are currently 11 rivers basins that will ensure planting of crops during the dry season with irrigation schemes that will guarantee continuous farming production all year round, to stem the seasonal glut and scarcity that we usually experience.’
‘We will deploy concessionary capital/funding to the sector especially towards fertilizer, processing, mechanization, seeds, chemicals, equipment, feed, labour, etc.’
He added, ‘The concessionary funds will ensure food is always available and affordable thereby having a direct impact on Nigeria’s Human Capital Index (HCI). This administration is focused on ensuring the HCI numbers, which currently ranks as the 3rd lowest in the world, are improved for increased productivity.’
‘Transportation and Storage: The cost of transporting Agricultural products has been a major challenge (due to permits, toll gates, and other associated costs). When the costs of moving farm produce is significantly impacted,’
‘…it will immediately be passed to the consumers, which will affect the price of food- the government will explore other means of transportation including rail and water transport, to reduce freight costs and in turn impact the food prices.’
‘As for storage, existing warehouses and tanks will be revamped to cut waste & ensure efficient preservation of food items.’
‘We will Increase revenue from food and agricultural exports. As we ensure there is sufficient, affordable food for the populace, we will concurrently work on stimulating the export capacity of the Agric sector.’
‘Trade Facilitation: Transportation, storage and export will be improved by working with the Nigerian Customs, who have assured us that the bottlenecks experienced in exporting and importing food items as well as intra-city transportation through tolling will be removed.’
‘These are some of the immediate interventions this government will put in place to tackle this crisis.’
These interventions are primarily aimed at fostering a noteworthy outcome: a considerable upsurge in employment rates and the facilitation of extensive job creation.
‘Indeed, agriculture already accounts for about 35.21 per cent of employment in Nigeria (as at 2021), the target is to double this percentage to about 70% in the long term.’
He said, ‘In closing, this administration understands that food and water are the bedrock of survival and therefore is calling on all Nigerians to partner us in ensuring the success of this strategic intervention. This administration is working assiduously to ensure that Nigerians do not struggle with their essential needs.’
‘President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wishes to use this medium to continue to assure Nigerians that this administration will not relent in its efforts until all strategic interventions are deployed efficiently and effectively and until every household is positively impacted.’
‘Our president is the president of all Nigerians and the father of the nation. The renewed hope mandate remains alive and no one, absolutely no one, will be left behind.’
Alake expressed confidence that President Tinubu’s directive to generate employment opportunities for the vast youth population would be accomplished through the creation of an additional five to ten million jobs within the value chain. This will involve leveraging the existing 500,000 hectares of arable land and developing several hundreds of thousands more farmlands in the medium term.